Sony PXW-FS5 - Initial User Impressions

[Andy Wilkinson]

Yes mine has fan noise - but it's very quiet, barely audible. You really have to put your ear next to the camera to hear it, at least on mine.

On another point, one which I brought up at the beginning of this thread, I read somewhere on one of the forums of others mentioning the slight play in the side grip, even when locked. So it seems this is a Sony "feature" ;-)

[Jody Arnott]

Mine has fan noise but barely audible. I very much doubt the internal mic would pick it up, but I will do a few tests.

I've also got a bit of play in the hand grip, but it doesn't bother me too much. My C100 had some also, so maybe I'm just used to it.

[Jody Arnott]

Well after shooting with the FS5 for two full days in a row, I must say I absolutely love it. I'm even getting used to the sluggish manual focus. A few random things I've noticed:

- Auto focus seems to be very good. I've never used auto focus before, but I found myself using the "push AF" button quite often. It's not super fast but it's very smooth, and I even used it a few times to rack focus (manually focus on foreground subject and then AF to background - it's generally much smoother than using manual focus on the stock lens).

- OIS is good on the stock lens. I used it handheld a few times and was happy with the result. I would never have done this with my C100.

- In terms of picture profiles; Cine1 (PP5) seems to be very good for outdoor/bright daylight shooting (it does a good job of preserving the highlights, and even blown out highlights look natural). I also modified PP6 to use cine4 gamma, which seems good for low light (more detail in the shadows). The cine profiles seem to have a lot more dynamic range than profiles with the REC709 curve, without the need for intensive grading like you would with SLOG.

(Alister Chapman's 2.5 hour FS5 seminar was a Godsend for figuring out the picture profiles and how to work with the gamma curves).

- I love the variable ND filter. It is incredibly smooth and can even be used when recording to change exposure. When shooting in good light I have been at f4 most of the time and use the ND filter to expose.

- The picture seems to be relatively noise free up to about 3200 ISO. I personally didn't need to go above 2500, even indoors with no additional lighting.

- There's a hidden button behind the hand grip. It's really handy to assign peaking to it.

That's all for now. I'll probably think of more later.

[Jeroen Wolf]

Hi Jody,

Good to hear you enjoy it so much.

I shot some stuff for a doc yesterday and found myself struggling to find a proper way to shoot from the shoulder. I used a slightly modified shoulder rig I had for my GH4 but it was not well-balanced. Very (front) heavy with the Sigma 18-35, external mic and wireless receiver. I thought I could shoot handheld for docs but holding it at shoulder height for extended periods with the above mentioned setup is impossible. I ordered one of those belt-fit support rods and will keep a close watch on shouldermount solutions for the FS5.

I shot an indoor scene through the viewfinder and with focus peaking the focus was sometimes not quite on, most likely because the background was only a few meters away. Probably better to turn it off in small spaces following people around.

I used Cine4 for this scene and am anxious to make the footage shine in FCP X. What have you done to your footage in your NLE?

Contrary to your experience I'm not too impressed with the autofocus on the kitlens. It was worthless when shooting puppies walking towards the camera. Even though they filled most part of the frame or where right in the middle, the lens focused on the background. I've had better results shooting football players from a much larger distance. Autofocus does not like close, moving subjects? Maybe I should have used the 'push auto' button more often...

One annoying thing: when using the VF on a rig (without the eyecup, which I find too flimsy. You press against it and it blocks part of the view) my headphone cable protruded into my chin, almost preventing me from pressing my eye fully against the VF.

I'm very curious to hear (and perhaps see) what you shot and how you postproduced it.

[Jody Arnott]

Hi Jeroen,

Interesting comments.

I'm very happy with how the image looks using PP5 (cine1). I spent the day in a manufacturing plant shooting machinery and factory workers, so a relatively dim environment with a lot of harsh highlights to deal with (windows, lights, etc). I'm happy with how it looks straight now of the camera. I don't think I'll need to do much grading (probably just play with the levels, add some saturation, add some sharpening) but nothing unlike what I've done with my C100 for the last couple of years.

I'll find a nice shot tomorrow and make a short before/after grading clip if you're interested. Grading isn't my strong point but I'll do my best. I'm also interested to see how others deal with it too.

And yes, I've noticed the same issue with the eye cup blocking out part of the VF. A slightly smaller eye cup would have been good. However the VF is SO much more usable that the one on my C100, so I'm happy.

[Jeroen Wolf]

Yes, I would like seeing what you shot, Jody. Did you only shoot with the stock lens?

[Jody Arnott]

Yes stock lens only, I'm waiting for my EF adapter to arrive.

[Docea Marius]

Hallo
which is the maximum ISO that have a decent image on FS5,i have Sony A7S this camera is very good and 32000 iso..
I saw a C100 test against Mark II,Canon colors are wonderful..autofocus is perfect,even ISO is ok..


thanks

[Jon Nash]

Originally Posted by Jody Arnott

My FS5 arrived this morning! So I've spent the day playing with it. Very impressed in general, with a few minor concerns. Manual focus on the kit lens is very difficult to get used to, but I think I will be able to work with it.

The next step for me is to find a workable picture profile. The standard profiles all seem to roll off the highlights extremely harshly (except for the log profiles that require grading). It's something I've noticed with other Sony cameras too. So I'm going to do a bit of reading - ideally I want a profile like the Wide DR profile on the Canon C100. Something that is usable straight out of camera, with good dynamic range, nice highlight roll off, flat enough to grade, etc.

On another note, I wish the camera had a waveform monitor. I find them much easier to read at a glance compared to the histogram.

I'll be using the camera a lot over the next few days - so if anyone has any questions, ask away.

+ 1 here . Im not the greatest with post and grading so Im looking for a nice all round profile for out of the box situations. Does any one else have any PP settings that would like to share :-)

[Paul Chiappini]

You may find this useful:

Sony FS5 - Picture Profiles - YouTube

[Andy Wilkinson]

This one compares FS5 and C100MkII.

FS5 vs C100II on Vimeo

[Jim Stamos]

I shot 2 gigs today.1 xavcl 50mb 30p
The other 4k 100mb 30p
PP4
Ive been shooting with an ex1r for years and it's served me very well.
But the technology has improved drastically. This camera shines on all fronts.Picked it up from my vendor
today for my testrun.It was a breeze to set up.As always I shot all manual.
Surprisingly,the stock lens worked very well.Focus was easy to lock,the zoom was very good,being able to a very good slow one,no issue at all. The LCD was xtremely sharp.I only wish I could use my hoodman loupe
on it but the LCD design prevents that.
Oddly when I went hdmi to my ikan in hd,the picture was dark,this after having my ex1 connected with a perfect image.it should b the same....?
When I was shooting 4k, with cards in relay mode,with 3 minutes left on card a, the card icon A appeared and started blinked,even after recording began on card b,and when I stopped recording it kept blinking.
I have 1 more shoot tomorrow.
I'm glad I didn't pull the trigger on the x70.
I will b making the plunge on this jewel.

[Steve Rosen]

I had preordered this camera, but cancelled because I needed UHD for a documentary before it was available. I bought a JVC LS300 and set it up for my shoot (since I have a bunch of MFT lenses for my Pocket Cams), and after some minor problems was very impressed with the results - it's a much better camera than I thought it would be... Far superior to my C100 in 1080p and probably at least as good as the Sony in 4K (the specs are actually better).

However, I am still considering the FS5, mainly because I'm nervous about the construction quality of the JVC - it's a little flimsy feeling and I work handheld, fast, without an AC... I can't complain though, because it's already paid for itself on the two jobs I've shot, and it'll always be a good BU.

I gave my C100 to a student intern, but kept the 24-105 and 17-55. My question is - does the EF- E Metabones adapter work reliably with the FS5? I bought an EF-MFT for the JVC and it is very flaky (iris control freezes), and I've had terrible customer service from Metabones (I'm stuck with it because it was 30 days past B&H's return policy before I discovered the problem).

Before I ever buy another Metabones product I want to be sure it's reputable - and if I go for the FS5 I want to use my Canon lenses.

I forgot to ask - several here also have/had C100s. Do the two zooms I mentioned "act" parfocal with the adapter on the FS5 the way they do natively on the C100 (and on the Pocket Cams with Speedbooster)?

[Jeroen Wolf]

I have the Speedbooster and a CommLite EF - E-mount. Save yourself some money and get the CommLite for 80 bucks. Very solid with my 24-105 and 70-200.

[Steve Rosen]

Haven't heard of the CommLite EF - E-mount, I'll check it out...